OUAI perfume began in 2018 as four eaux de parfum named after Jen Atkin's favorite streets, and it has grown into mists and body care in the same scents. Here are the bottles, the hair and body versions, and a few other brands' mists for the days you want something lighter.
OUAI Perfume Is Jen Atkin's Street Map, Bottled
OUAI perfume starts with a simple, slightly funny fact: the brand's first fragrance collection, launched on November 13, 2018, was four eaux de parfum named after the streets Jen Atkin loves most. She founded OUAI in 2016, pronounced "way" and meant as a casual, Parisian kind of yes, and she has said the goal was a haircare brand built out of conversations with clients and followers. The perfumes came from the same place. The brand says customers kept telling it how much they loved the scents in the hair products, so it made the scent the whole point.
That street idea is what I like about the lineup. Dean Street is the citrusy one, inspired by a favorite street in London, and it is the bottle I reach for on a bright morning when I want something clean and awake. Melrose Place is the romantic one, a velvety-rich rose inspired by Los Angeles, with champagne, pink peppercorn, berry and lychee on top. It is warmer and louder, a good evening choice.
Rue St. Honoré and Laurel Canyon sit in between, and I would say the honest way to choose is to trust the place names and then test on skin, since a scent always reads differently on you than on paper. The St. Barts Solid Eau de Parfum is the one that lives in a bag. A solid means no leaks in transit, and it is easy to dab on wrists and behind the ears after a long flight, when a full bottle is the last thing you want to carry.
Mists for hair and skin
A bottle is for getting dressed. A mist is for the rest of the day. OUAI has built a whole second life for its scents in hair and body mists, which is smart, because hair holds fragrance longer than skin does and moves it around every time you turn your head.
The St. Barts Hair and Body Mist is the beachy one in the family, and there is a lot more of the same scent available if you like it: the Moisturizing Body Cream and the Gentle Body Wash are made in the same St. Barts scent, so you can layer from shower to cream to mist and end up smelling like one idea and not three. I love that kind of layering. It makes a scent feel lived in, not sprayed on.
Ibiza and Santorini are the two other mists here, named for holidays and worn like them, light and a little escapist. I spray them from about a hand's length away, onto the ends of dry hair and the inside of my elbows, and then leave it alone.
A small test worth doing: spray the mist on a brush, not straight on your hair, and comb through. You get an even veil of scent and none of the stiff, damp patches that come from spraying too close. Keep the body cream for right after a shower, while skin is still a little damp, and use the wash as the quiet first layer.
Other hair perfumes I like
Not every hair perfume has to come from one brand, and I would not want you to think so. Once you know you like scented hair, a few others are worth knowing, and each one has its own personality.
Sol de Janeiro's Cheirosa 40 is a hair and body perfume mist, and it is warm and sweet in the way the brand is known for. Moroccanoil's Fragrance Originale hair and body mist carries the brand's signature spa-like scent, which makes it an easy one if you already use that line. Rare Beauty's Find Comfort body and hair fragrance mist is the soft, cozy option, and I like it layered over unscented lotion. The amika:aura hair and body mist is a bright, modern pick for gym bags and desk drawers. Gisou's Wildflower Honey Infused Hair Perfume is the most hair-focused of the group, made to scent strands in a fine mist that feels a little like a treat.
What I would skip: spraying any hair perfume on freshly straightened hair right before a flat iron or a curling wand, and spraying it on a scalp that is already irritated. Scented mists are for finishing, so use them after heat styling, not before. I would also skip stacking three strongly different scents in one morning, since they will argue with each other by lunch.
How I wear them
My own rule is one scent story a day. If I wear Dean Street on my wrists, I keep the hair mist close to it or unscented, and I save the contrasts for the evening. Think of the bottle as your main statement and the mist as a soft echo.
Try a new scent on one wrist for a full day before you decide, and let it settle for a couple of hours, because the top notes are only the introduction. Keep the solid in a coat pocket, a mist in the desk drawer, and the bottle where you get dressed. If a scent ever bothers your skin or your scalp, stop using it and ask a doctor if the irritation lasts. The best fragrance is one you forget you are wearing until someone leans in and asks what it is.
